The invention relates to a packaging machine for cigarettes, with a container (magazine) for stocking the cigarettes, the magazine being subdivided, at least in the lower region, by means of shaft walls into magazine shafts, each for receiving a vertical row of cigarettes, and with test members for checking the cigarettes for a correct tobacco content, the presence of a filter, etc.
Cigarettes are checked for any errors before packaging. The main defects arise from an insufficient tobacco content which can cause deficiencies or voids above all at the ends, that is to say in the region of the end faces of the cigarettes. A check must also be made to ascertain whether, on filter cigarettes, a filter is present and is properly attached.
A packaging machine for cigarettes conventionally has assigned to it a magazine which receives a certain stock of aligned cigarettes. In the magazine, magazine shafts are formed in the lower region by means of vertical shaft walls which by virtue of their dimensions receive a vertical row of cigarettes. At the lower ends, cigarette groups corresponding to the content of a cigarette pack are pushed out of the magazine or out of the magazine shafts. The cigarette groups formed in this way are delivered to the packaging units via conveyors (cigarette turret, pocket chain or the like).
The check to ascertain whether the cigarettes have been constructed correctly is mainly carried out after the formation of the cigarette groups in the region of the cigarette turret. However, it has also already been proposed to conduct the test of the cigarettes and separate out any defective cigarettes in the region of the magazine.